I recently was under my hood and changed the coolant temp sensor. While I had it off I noticed my coolant was orange and the reservoir had orange coolant in it. I just had the timing belt and water pump done at vw a few a little while back. Isn't g12 coolant pinkish or the new g12+ is a new color right??

G12+ can be mixed with G12. It is my understanding the G12+ is mainly from Audi to address heater core issues (the B5 Passats also have the same problem). Those heater cores get clogged up with "sand", mineral deposits or whatever. Beetles don't have this issue, so there unless G12+ is cheaper, there is no need to use it.

I would never use anything other than G12/G12+/G12++ unless I did a very, very thorough flush. I don't care if it says its compatible, I wouldn't risk clogging up my cooling system. G12 isn't all that expensive, and unless you have a leak, you shouldn't really need to use it all that often anyway.

Some dealers use Dexcool Prestone coolant I believe which is orange. At least that is what I use on mine since it's cheaper and compatible.

Who told you that Dexcool is compatible? That is so not True.
And I can't believe a dealer actually would be using such a product since they would open themselves up to a potential lawsuit not only from the consumer but from VW USA for not using the proper VW approved product.
So I seriously doubt that this dealer is using DexCool

The main issue with coolants is that VW's MUST use a phosphate free coolant. It's the phosphate that causes corrosion similar to electrolysis that reacts with the two different metals, aluminum in the head and cast iron in the block.
So, unless the coolant specifically states that it is phosphate free do not use it.
Play it safe, use only VW approved coolant either OEM Pentosin or Autobahn coolant. Both can be found online or at the dealer.
And, to restate what everyone has said here, G12,G12+ and G12++ are all interchangeable and mixable with each other. DO NOT under any circumstances mix G12 with G11(blue) coolant.
That is all.

so i went and pulled the service file for my vw and it clearly states installed G012A8G1G coolant. i looked up this part # and it says g12 coolant which should be pink but mine is clearly orange. suggestions on what to do here. I mean i clearly paid to have my timing/water pump service done and it was at an official vw dealer. The owner also has a chevy dealer so maybe they put in something else like dex-cool. ive been running this coolant since 8/2/12 and nothing has gone wrong.

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